This application is for partial support of the 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Cellular Biology of Lipids, a meeting that will bring together leading scientists in the field to present and discuss their research and to facilitate advances in lipid research. This conference has been held every other year for over 47 years and is recognized world-wide as a prestigious forum for the presentation of ground breaking research in lipid biochemistry and molecular biology. The 2009 meeting, which will be held July 19-24 at the Waterville Valley Resort in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire will continue this tradition and will emphasize the role of lipids in health and disease. The meeting will include nine lecture sessions and four afternoon poster sessions. Lecture sessions will cover a broad range of topics, including regulation of lipid metabolism by nuclear receptors, bacterial lipid synthesis and catabolism, genetics of lipid metabolism, enzymes of lipid metabolism, trafficking of proteins and lipids, protein structure in the lipid bilayer, mammalian lipid metabolism, and lipid localization and membrane structure. The 37 speakers in these sessions will describe research done in an array of in vivo and in vitro biological systems and using multiple experimental approaches. Lectures at Gordon Research Conferences are well known to stimulate lively discussions among attendees who in this case will include biochemists, structural biologists, cell biologists, and geneticists. Scientists who attend this conference derive synergistic benefit from the high quality of the speakers, the diverse experimental backgrounds of participants, and the intimate atmosphere of the meeting. These benefits in turn drive future advances in lipid metabolism. Participants and speakers have been and will be chosen to reflect international excellence in this medically-relevant area of science with an ideal balance between youth and wisdom, men and women, and the different ethnicities. Outstanding facilities are available to accommodate handicapped individuals who will be considered equally in the selection of attendees and speakers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Lipids such as fats and cholesterol are required for life, but cause heart attacks and strokes when present in excess. The 2009 Gordon Research Conference on the Molecular and Cellular Biology of Lipids will address current issues in lipid synthesis and breakdown and how these fundamental processes go awry in cardiovascular disease.